And now, what's NOT a Christmas tradition:
Jeff and I have never taught our kids about Santa Claus. I mean,
they know the traditions and the folk tales and the history, but we've
never perpetuated the idea. Our reasoning has always been that we have a
loving Heavenly Father who showers us daily with blessings, who owns
the cattle on a thousand hills, from whom comes "every good and perfect
gift" ... Truly, generosity, love and joy are hallmarks of a life lived
in submission to the Holy Spirit and we don't want to take away from
that by confusing them with a different, make-believe entity who is
supposed to embody those traits as well. We understand that others
disagree, but this is simply what we've chosen for our family. We have been convicted
to focus solely on the coming of the Messiah, the Christ child who came
in humility to be born, to live a sinless life, to die on the cross, to
be raised again so that we might have eternal life.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his
glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and
truth." John 1:1, 14 (ESV)
A note: Our children are instructed not to discuss the
truth about Santa with other kids out of respect for their parents'
choice to include him in their Christmas traditions.
3 comments:
We also focus on the Incarnation, and not Santa Claus. Our children were told that Santa Claus is a 'game' that some people play, a make believe character. But that we wanted them to know that while it is a fun game to play, it is only a game. Christ is real, and His coming is reason for the celebration of the season. This really rattled our family members who 'played' Santa in a pretty serious way. They were a little unhappy with us and we had to give an annual warning to our children about spoiling the game of Santa for their cousins. ;0)
I will not encourage Santa Clause to Zoey because I consider it lying. She does sit on Santa's lap, though, every year because of other influences in our family (her Nana and Pop)- they have a good friend who plays Santa at the mall and they insist we get pictures of her with Santa. I do not put gifts "from Santa" though. I plan on telling her the truth, that Santa is made up if she ever asks, but until then I'm kind of stuck in a tough position of keeping everyone happy in the family. I enjoy your blogs, keep em' comin'!
I would like to make a comment on St. Nicholas' behalf. He is not a "game' or a 'make believe character' but one of the key people in the Council of Nicea 325ad that established the foundations of what we believe and what books would be included in the Bible. He was also a very generous person who gave everything he had to help the poor in his country. Yes, many people have distorted his character (we have Coca Cola to thank for that) But the facts remain. He can be taught to your children as a pillar of our faith, much like the Apostle Paul. If you say Saint Nicholas fast enough you get Santa Claus.
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